<div>The removal of a senior military officer who had played a key role in the Thai dialogue team in the southern peace talks, and the team's unreadiness to endorse the draft terms of reference (ToR), raise concerns about whether the process is facing a deadlock.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The technical teams of Party A, representing the Thai government, and Party B, a term defined as "people with different opinions from the state" and represented by Mara Patani, have spent several months working on the ToR. </div>

<p>After expressing his frustration over the latest Deep South peace talks, the Thai junta leader warned media not to criticise the government for the stalled peace dialogue with Deep South insurgent groups.</p>

<h2>&nbsp;</h2> <h2>Part 1: Chronology&nbsp;</h2> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It is not unusual for Patani Malay Muslims to receive a bilingual invitation card printed both in Thai and Malay (in Jawi script) for a fund raising tea party, usually organized by a local mosque, aimed at collecting donations from well-wishers. These events, called ‘makae the’ (drinking tea) in the local Malay dialect, are often held as one of the most effective traditional ways of public fund raising in the community. </div>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand’s head of the team engaged in peace talks with the Deep South independence movements says last month’s siege of Cho-airong Hospital shows disunity among the movement. However, this disunity will benefit Bangkok.</p> <p></p>

<p>Six soldiers are to be jailed for beating to death a military recruit in the Deep South of Thailand.</p>

<p>A soldier in Thailand’s Deep South has died a few days after he was reportedly tortured at a military base for committing disciplinary offences. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://mgr.manager.co.th/South/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9590000034453">The Manager Online reported</a>&nbsp;on Monday, 4 April 2016, that 23-year-old Private Songtham Mutmat from Phayak Military Camp in Bannang Sata District of the restive Deep Southern Province of Yala, died at the provincial hospital. &nbsp;</p>

<p>People and civil society groups in the Deep South of Thailand have donated more than 3 million baht to help an Islamic school after it was forced to close down under a court order.</p> <p>Civil society groups in the Deep South on Saturday, 19 March 2016, organised a fundraising event to help the Waemanor family, who ran a Pondok, Islamic religious school, called ‘Jihad Pondok’ in Talo-Kapo Village, Yaring District, Pattani Province until the court confiscated its land in early February. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>A member of the Malaysian Parliament has urged the Malaysian government to acknowledge the recent confiscation of the land of an Islamic school in the Deep South by the Thai authorities while questioning Malaysia’s role in the peace process. &nbsp;</p>

<p>After the seizure of a public hospital in the Deep South sparked outrage from both the authorities and civil groups, the Thai military said that they have to tighten control over the region amid calls from activists that they should step back for civilian protection.</p>

<div>In pursuance to the violence in the Cho-airong Hospital on 13 March 2016, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Public Health, Dr Sophon Mekthon said that the siege by the insurgents did not last so long and none of the health personnel was harmed, though damages have been inflicted on property including computers, desks, doors, etc. All medical personnel, nurses and doctors, are fine as well as the patients. High ranking officers will be dispatched there to inspect the situation and will report more information to the Ministry later. </div>

<p>Separatist insurgents took over and damaged a hospital in southern&nbsp;<a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8-32%3d5-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4432086&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=95553&amp;Action=Follow+Link">Thailand</a>&nbsp;on March 13, 2016, in violation of the&nbsp;<a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8-32%3d5-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4432086&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=95552&amp;Action=Follow+Link">laws of war</a>, Human Rights Watch said today.</p>

<p>Fifteen dead-end cold cases of enforced disappearances in Thailand are brought to light through a new photo exhibition.</p> <p></p>